extremely sentimental, just not when it came to people. She treasured memories and mementos and had two storage units full to prove it. I, on the other hand, could care less about things. All of my emotional currency was spent on people.
One person, in particular, had cost me the most. Holden Reed. But it made sense that unrequited love would be expensive. He was the reason that the film had hit me so hard. I had the sort of love that was talked about, it just hadn’t been returned.
“Do you really want to find your lobster?” The pitying look was back on my sister’s face.
“I just want…” Something different. For the past year, I’d felt like I just kept repeating the same day over and over. I saw the same clients, I hosted the same events, I texted the same people. If variety was the spice of life, I’d been living a flavorless existence. All my life I’d wanted to be a mom and have a family, so I’d tried to jumpstart that process by dating. Unfortunately, every man I met paled in comparison to the one man I knew I’d never have. “I don’t know what I want,” I admitted.
“Maybe figure that out before you drag someone else into your mid-life crisis.”
She had a point. And I was actually working on that. My mom always said that life doesn’t have a remote control, if you want to change the channel you have to get up and do it yourself. And since love wasn’t something I could control, I’d decided to add a little excitement into my routine by stepping out of my comfort zone.
“I think I’m going to try naked yoga,” I whispered.
I’d been toying with the idea for a few months and saying it out loud felt dangerous. That was how boring my life was. Just telling my sister that I was going to do it gave me a thrill.
“Eww!” she exclaimed, sounding like Jimmy Fallon. “With the old people?”
“Shh!” I hated that that was how she referred to the restorative yoga class I taught, even though most, or I guess, all, of my students were seniors. “No!”
My answer only served to make her even more repulsed as her face distorted in horrification. “You can’t do that at the ranch.”
The other yoga class I taught was for at-risk youths at Reed Rescue Ranch, which happened to be owned by Holden’s older brother Hudson.
“I’m not going to do it in class. I’m going to do it alone, in my backyard.”
Molly’s expression did relax, but it morphed into what I could only describe as confusion. “Why?”
“Because it’s…something new.”
“Have fun with that.” She pantomimed lifting a glass to me in cheers. “I hope you don’t get any dirt in your lady bits.”
“I’m not gonna sit on the dirt. I’m going to use a yoga mat.”
“Sorry, I thought this new adventurous Liv would reject the idea of proper equipment.”
“Ha ha.” My sister also thought she was a lot funnier than she actually was. My phone buzzed and I pulled it out to see that I had a message from Tyler telling me he was on his way.
“Is that nose picker?” she asked with a tinge of pity in her voice.
“Don’t call him that.”
“Where do you find these guys? Losers R Us?”
Sort of. I met them on dating apps. As much as I loved living in Wishing Well, the well of potential partners had dried up years ago. There was not a single man under thirty-five in this town that I hadn’t friend-zoned, dated, or one of my friends had dated. I was out of options, thus the dating apps.
At this point in my life, I considered it a numbers game. The more people I met, the better chances I had to find the love I wanted.
I was typing my reply when I heard my sister say, “Oh shit. I didn’t know he was back in town.”
I looked up to see who my sister was referring to and my entire body went numb. I blinked several times, certain that I must be seeing things. Holden Reed was standing in the doorway.
“Wasn’t he in the hospital?”
There was a large lump in my throat as I swallowed. “He got out about a month ago.”
Thirty-seven days to be exact, but if I told my sister that then I’d be revealing something that I’d managed to keep a secret for nearly thirty years. I was head over heels, madly in love with Holden Reed. It was a